DURHAM, N.C. – Mark Pope tossed a
two-run complete game, and Mott Hyde drove in three RBI to propel No. 6 Georgia
Tech to a 9-2 win over Duke in game one on Friday night at Durham Bulls Athletic
Park.

Pope threw his third complete game of the season,
scattering just four hits and one earned run to win his seventh straight start.
Pope, a 6-2 right-hander who leads the ACC in wins and ranks second in ERA,
struck out seven and scattered a career-high three walks to give the Yellow
Jackets (22-5, 10-0 ACC) their 10th consecutive ACC
victory.

Duke (15-13, 2-8 ACC) scored twice in the third inning to
take an early 2-0 lead against the junior right-hander, but Pope settled down
and held Duke to three hits over the final six innings. The Yellow Jackets
bounced back and took the lead in the fifth inning on a dropped fly ball by Duke
that allowed the go-ahead run to score.

Hyde drove in Georgia Tech’s first run of the game and
finished 2-for-5 with a single, a double, three RBI and a run scored. Along with
Hyde, six other Yellow Jackets recorded multiple hits, including a three-hit
performance by shortstop Jacob Esch. Esch doubled and reached base four times
while scoring once and driving in a run.

Duke (15-13, 2-8 ACC) scored its two runs on four hits,
as freshman outfielder Chris Marconcini recorded Duke’s only RBI on a sacrifice
flyout to centerfield. The RBI fly ball was the 25th RBI of the
season for Marconcini, who was the first player in the ACC to reach 20 RBI and
20 runs.

Duke’s two runs were not enough to support freshman
lefthander Dillon Haviland (1-2), who made his second straight weekend start and
held Georgia Tech to three runs – two earned – over five complete innings.
Haviland struck out a career-high matching four batters and went five innings in
his fourth consecutive appearance.

Duke got on the board first with two runs in the bottom
of the third inning on two walks and a fielding error. Freshman catcher Mike
Rosenfeld, in his second career start, scored the first run of the game after
drawing a leadoff walk and scoring on back-to-back wild pitches. Marconcini then
plated the second Blue Devil run on a sacrifice fly-out to centerfield that
scored Piwnica-Worms after he reached base on a fielding error and moved to
third on the wild pitches.

Georgia Tech cut into the lead in the top of the fourth
inning on a one-run single by Hyde that scored Jake Davies who reached base on a
walk. The Yellow Jackets took the lead in the top of the fifth with two runs on
two hits. The first run came on an RBI single by Zane Evans that tied the game,
and the go-ahead run scored when Duke left fielder Anthony D'Alessandro dropped
a fly ball on the warning track to allow Esch to score from second
base.

The Yellow Jackets added two more runs in the top of the
sixth to increase their lead to 5-2. Kyle Wren recorded the first run with a
one-run single that scored Sam Dove. Wren was immediately driven in for the
second run from a double by Esch.

Georgia Tech plated four insurance runs in the top of
ninth inning from four consecutive hits, two of which were back-to-back doubles.
The first run came from a one-run double by Daniel Palka that scored Jake Davies
who reached base on a walk, while Hyde grabbed two more RBI from a two-run
double. Dove drove in the last run of the game with a one-run single that gave
the Yellow Jackets their 10th ACC win.